Rick rolls to number 1

Apparently, he’s never going to give you up, let you down, run around or desert you. And his latest album is number 1 almost three decades after his last chart-topper.

Rick Astley (steady, ladies) – for it is he, of course – has made it to the top spot for the first time since 1987. The last album of his to do that was also his first, titled, you’ve guessed it, “Never Gonna Give You Up”, featuring a track with the same title that gained him huge success, and a rather odd legacy.

Back then, the youthful Richard graduated from Tea Boy to Stock, Aitken and Watermen (the three horsemen of the Popaclypse) sausage-factory success with the irritatingly catchy tune, his surprisingly deep voice, wholesome image and some questionable dancing skills.

A number 1 hit in 25 countries, Rick continued to churn out the hits for his pop-paymasters until 1990, ditching their stewardship in favour of a more soulful style. Three years later, he’d packed it in – at the ripe old age of 27 – to focus on family life and raising his daughter.

New albums and singles after the clock ticked over to 21st century only slightly troubled the charts, with the exception of a Greatest Hits package in 2002, which reached the dizzy heights of number 16.

The world gradually forgot about Rick, until around a decade ago. At which point “rickrolling” barged it’s way onto the scene, as he became the subject of a viral internet meme. In case you somehow managed to miss it, this was a challenging experience where you followed a link expecting something else and got Rick’s video instead.

With hundreds of millions of views, the world certainly remembered the 80s boy-next-door alright, but largely because they now wanted to punch him on the hooter.

Occasional releases followed, until the imaginatively entitled “50” was released last month, presumably because sticking your age on the cover has worked particularly well for Adele.

Hey presto – it went to number one last week, beating off Tom Odell, Paul McCartney, ELO (yay!) and Drake, the UK charts again featuring a strange mix of old and new artists. Rather splendidly, Mr Odell was three years away from being born the last time Rick graced the top spot.

Tellingly, according to the Official Charts Company, Odell had more digital sales and streams, but was beaten into second place by Astley fans’ CD purchases. The middle-aged masses want something physical for their money! At the final count, there were just 3,700 copies between the two.

So hurrah for the Lancashire-born lad – he may have struggled to be taken seriously in the 1980s, but battling it out with the cool young things and veteran hit-makers to get to the top shows you can’t keep a great voice, and a dedicated fan base, down.

And the good news is, he’s never gonna make you cry, say goodbye or tell and lie and hurt you, either. Thanks, Rick.

This post first appeared as my "Thank grumpy it's Friday" column, in the North West Evening Mail, on the 24th of June 2016.

The paper retitled it as "Fans will never give Rick up", and this featured intensive research from me, as I looked at two and a bit different websites to get my Rick Facts.

As it turned out, I'd imagine that hardly anybody read it, as the whole Brexit thing landed loudly on top of everything else happening on that day.

I had contemplated penning a Referendum column, but as I have to submit my scribblings on Wednesday evening, it could only have been a "whatever happened, here's what's going to happen" thing.

The other option was to write two different columns, one for In and the other for Out, but even then, despite it's name suggesting otherwise, the paper gets published quite early in the day, so it will have already been on the presses when the result was confirmed.

On a separate note, the North got a new paper this week - '24' - covering national stories with a North of England bias. It also features an Opinion section each day by different columnists - a whole page! One larger piece (at a guess, 650 words-ish) and two short (150ish) with pictures. Jealous? Me? Hell, yes.

I often write more than my allotted 500 words and have to edit down, and there are always other things going on I could happily comment on in short form, and the larger geographic spread would be fantastic. Ah well...

(CD A-Z: Peter Gabriel's deep and dark New Blood from 2011.)

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